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Anne Sofie von Otter in VWO all-French programme

Music |18 Oct . 2011

World renowned mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter will sing with Vector Wellington Orchestra on Friday, November 18. Her appearance with the orchestra has been anticipated as the highlight of an outstanding year of music.

Von Otter is one of the biggest names in opera, says VWO music director Marc Taddei. “She is a superstar of classical music.”

“To secure an artist of this calibre is a tremendous coup for any orchestra, and we couldn’t be more pleased,” Taddei says. “She is the greatest mezzo soprano of her generation.”

The Swedish mezzo-soprano will appear with the orchestra on November 18, singing selections from Canteloube’s Songs of the Auvergne. It is her only symphonic concert in New Zealand.

Her voice has been described as silvery yet powerful, “a lavish voice moderated by a style of restraint”. Others, like opera writer Lydia Perovic, call it “volcanic, adjusted for a human-sized consumption of energy”.

A regular at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, von Otter’s equally busy concert career makes her a frequent soloist in the major halls of Europe and North America, partnered with some of the world's pre-eminent conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Carlos Kleiber, Claudio Abbado, John Eliot Gardiner and Georg Solti.

The VWO is supporting her with an all-French programme of music including Debussy’s dreamlike Impressionist masterpiece, Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. The VWO closes its 2011 season with Berlioz’ Romantic showstopper, the Symphonie Fantastique. Surely no composer has written a better monument to unrequited love! Berlioz’ music perfectly describes the thrill of hope and the melting tenderness of new love. When love goes disastrously astray, Berlioz’ wild Witches’ Sabbath and the tremendous March to the Scaffold make an unforgettable close to the symphony.